Headlines

Oilers at Sabres preview

Ristolainen returns for Buffalo, which has lost seven straight; backup goalie Brossoit starts for Edmonton

by
Joe Yerdon
/ NHL.com Correspondent

OILERS (8-12-2) at SABRES (5-13-4)

7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNW, MSG-B, NHL.TV

The Game

The Buffalo Sabres will have defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen back in the lineup when they face the Oilers at KeyBank Center on Friday, when they try to end a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2).

Ristolainen missed nine games with an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 2 against the Arizona Coyotes but returned to his spot on the first defense pairing with Marco Scandella at the morning skate. Ristolainen has played 13 games and leads the NHL in average time on ice with 27:09.

The Oilers will start backup Laurent Brossoit because No. 1 goaltender Cam Talbot is sick. Coach Todd McLellan said defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who has the flu, will be a game-time decision.

Robin Lehner will start for the Sabres.

Players to watch

Oilers center Connor McDavid has six points (one goal, five assists) during a three-game point streak.

Sabres center Jack Eichel has a goal and an assist in his past two games.

They said it

"We're trying to string wins together. We found ways to string losses together. So that's what you've got to do; you've got to put together a streak here and get ourselves back in it." -- Oilers captain Connor McDavid

"I think we work hard, we tried, but sometimes maybe less is more and we need to try to talk and try to play it simple and sometimes during the 60 minutes there's some tough moments for sure. We just need to battle through those." -- Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen about what he learned while he was sidelined with an upper-body injury

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